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Download Tournament Flyer Here!
May 12, 2018
Venue: NOVA Field House: 14810 Murdock St. Chantilly, VA 20151
At-The-Door Spectator Tickets: $15
Spectator tickets purchased at night-before weigh-ins or the day of the tournament are $15.
Male divisions are as follows:
When you pre-register 2 or more family members or teammates on the same invoice, you automatically receive an additional $5 discount per division.
TEAM DISCOUNT: Bring a team of 10 or more guys. Each competitor pays only: $60 for 1 division or $80 for 2 divisions. To take advantage of this ALL competitors from your team MUST pre-register online; but DON'T pay online. You will pay your discounted team price at the door when you arrive to weigh-in. CASH ONLY.
COLLEGE STUDENT DISCOUNT: Any college student who registers on-site with a current college id-card will pay only $60 for 1 division; or $80 for 2 divisions. This offer is only valid for on-site registration only. A current college id-card is required.
FRIDAY - Night Before Weigh-Ins: 6-8 pm
Night before weigh-ins will be held at the hosting venue. Weigh-ins will be open to all competitors.
SATURDAY - Day Of Weigh-Ins
If you cannot make it Friday night for weigh-ins, you can weigh-in on Saturday starting at 8 am. Adults can show up earlier than their recommended weigh-in time if they like; but they are not required to. Competitors DO NOT have to weigh-in with their Gi on.
IMPORTANT: You MUST be on time! When planning drive time please take into account traffic and the possibility of getting lost so you are not late. If you are late for weigh-ins you will be disqualified. Below are the times when the scales close for each group:
*Scales close at 9 am for ALL kids & teen competitors.
*Scales close at 12 noon for ALL adult Gi competitors.
*Scales close at 3 pm for ALL adult NoGi competitors.
All pre-registered competitors will receive a free tournament tee shirt when they arrive to check-in for the tournament. The Good Fight does order extra tee shirts. Additional tee shirts will be available for sale for $15. They are available on a first come, first serve basis.
1st, 2nd & 3rd place custom-medals are awarded to placewinners.
Re-visit this section the DAY BEFORE the tournament. Any adjustments will be posted here.
8:00 am: Weigh-In scales open
9:00 am: Weigh-ins CLOSE for all kids/teens
9:30 am: Rules meeting for kids & teens
10:00 am: Kids/Teens Gi
11:00 am: Kids/Teens NoGi
12:00 pm: Weigh-ins CLOSE for adult Gi
12:00 pm: Rules meeting for adults
12:15 pm: Female Gi divisions start
12:30 pm: Black/Brown Gi divisions start
12:45 pm: Purple Gi divisions start
1:00 pm: Blue belt Gi divisions start
1:45 pm: White belt Gi divisions start
3:00 pm: Scales CLOSE for adult NoGi
3:00 pm: Female NoGi divisions start
3:15 pm: Black/Brown NoGi divisions start
3:30 pm: Purple NoGi divisions start
3:45 pm: Blue NoGi divisions start
4:00 pm: White NoGi divisions start
During the tournament brackets will come out in the same order as the tournament divisions are scheduled above.
You will not be able to see what your bracket looks like until approximately 30 mintues before you division start time. (Please do not look for your bracket online because we do not post them online, they are actually made the day of the tournament.)
Brackets are put together throughout the day and their completion times are in accordance with the tournamnet schedule you see above.
When you are at the tournament please do not freak out if you don't see your name on a set of brackets. Look at the bracket very closely. Take your time to determine if it is indeed the bracket you should be in in.
At the tournament, if you are still have a specific question please see The Good Fight mat manager.


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|SpongeBob SquarePants
|Created by:
|Stephen Hillenburg
|Creative directors:
| Derek Drymon (1999–2004)
Vincent Waller (2005–present)
|Executive producer:
| Stephen Hillenburg (1999-2004; 2015-present)
Paul Tibbitt (2005-2014)
|Children's television series
|Country of origin:
|United States
|Original channel:
|Number of Seasons:
| 189 (aired)
360 (segments)
|Production companies:
| United Plankton Pictures
Nickelodeon Animation Studios
|MTV Networks International
|Picture format:
| 480i (4:3 SDTV) (1999–2012)
1080i (4:3 HDTV) (2009 special)
|Original run:
|May 1, 1999 - Present
SpongeBob SquaePants is awesome. SpongeBob SquarePants (also simply referred to as SpongeBob) is an Emmy award-winning American animated comedy series and media franchise. It's one of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons shows and is currently the most watched show on Nickelodeon. In 2007, it was named by TIME magazine as one of the greatest television shows of all time, it also broke a record for the amount of episodes aired in one year, with 47. SpongeBob SquarePants is the most longest running Nickelodeon show. In 2011, the episode "Squiditis" was episode 173a, making SpongeBob the longest running Nickelodeon series surpassing the former holder, Rugrats, which consisted of 172 episodes. The year 2013 officially broke a record for the least episodes aired in one year. Only 2 episodes aired in 2014 ("It Came from Goo Lagoon" and "Kenny the Cat"). "Yeti Krabs" is the first episode to air in 2015 in the USA.[1]
Even though its original network is Nickelodeon, SpongeBob is now broadcast across the world, and appeared on MTV2 for a short time in 2006. It was created by former marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg and is produced through his production company, United Plankton Pictures, Inc. and Friends Academy Television, Inc.
The series is set in the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Bikini Bottom, under the island of Bikini Atoll, and on the surrounding lagoon floor. The pilot episode first aired along with two other episodes in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1998. The "official" series premiere followed on July 17, 1998, after a short hiatus, with two episodes "Bubblestand," / "Ripped Pants." Then more episodes aired throughout the rest of 1998.
SpongeBob SquarePants is an active, happy sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, while his grouchy, miserable neighbor, Squidward Tentacles lives in an Easter Island-like house, Squidward's name was made as "Squidward" although he is an octopus, but Stephen wanted to make it catchy, so that's why Squidward's name was named as Squidward and not Octoward. Squidward's name came from the English name 'Edward'. SpongeBob's other neighbor and best friend is a chubby pink starfish named Patrick Star, who lives under a huge rock with a compass on the top. SpongeBob and Patrick live on both sides of Squidward on Conch Street. They often go to the Krusty Krab or Jellyfish Fields.
Main characters
- SpongeBob SquarePants - A very friendly, funny, and happy-go-lucky sea sponge who loves jellyfishing and works at the Krusty Krab as the fry cook.
- Patrick Star - A dim-witted, pink starfish and SpongeBob's best friend. He is somewhat foolish, selfish and silly, but is usually loyal to SpongeBob. He has sometimes shown hints of intelligence.
- Squidward Tentacles - SpongeBob's next door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab, where he is the cashier. Squidward is a smart, artistic and somewhat sociopathic octopus. He hates SpongeBob and Patrick due to their childlike behavior, and openly displays his hatred towards them. Despite this, they are completely oblivious to his hatred of them. He believes he is an amazing artist and clarinet player, but quite the opposite in reality. SpongeBob is convinced that Squidward is a good-hearted person who loves to have fun, but just doesn't know it.
- Sandy Cheeks - An intelligent squirrel from Texas that has to wear an oxygen tank to breathe underwater. Inside her house she wears a purple and green frilly bikini, which some fish find indecent. Sandy is a smart and strong squirrel, and is an expert in karate and has often helped SpongeBob and Patrick out whenever they get into trouble.
- Mr. Krabs - A crab who is in charge of the Krusty Krab restaurant, where SpongeBob and Squidward work. He is addicted to money, believing that money is a living thing, and is, therefore, selfish and greedy. He is 72 years old.
- Gary the Snail - SpongeBob's pet. His only sound is a "meow," similar to a cat, but in the episode "Opposite Day," Gary barks once to be in the "holiday spirit". In fact, he is considered a sea cat, like a worm is considered a sea dog.
- Sheldon J. Plankton - A copepod, who is Mr. Krabs' arch-rival and the show's main antagonist. He intends on getting the secret Krabby Patty formula and putting the Krusty Krab out of business, although he has only succeeded a few times, and eventually those successes were destroyed. Despite this, his restaurant, The Chum Bucket, is a complete failure, since Plankton can't cook, and because he spends too much time attempting to steal the formula in order to do so.
Secondary characters
- Mrs. Puff - A pufferfish, and SpongeBob's boating teacher. Mrs. Puff is eager to get SpongeBob out of her class, as she sees him as a homicidal maniac, and has made an obsession of it. She is a widow - her husband was captured and turned into a pufferfish lamp.
- Pearl Krabs - Mr. Krabs' teenage daughter. She is a whale who acts like a stereotypical American teenage girl. Her father thinks he's spoiling her, when quite frankly, he is doing the opposite.
- Karen Plankton- Plankton's computer wife. She often assists him with his plans to ruin Krabs. Karen is sometimes mobile.
- Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy - Two old, retired superheroes who are adored by SpongeBob, Patrick, and members of the "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" Fan Club.
- Larry the Lobster - A buff, fit lobster, usually found at Goo Lagoon, Bikini Bottom's local beach.
- Perch Perkins - The Bikini Bottom News TV Reporter. He has orange skin, but in the movie, he had purple skin as his first appearance.
- Patchy the Pirate - The president of the SpongeBob SquarePants fan club. He hosts live-action segments, accompanied by his frenemy Potty, a parrot, and does not realize that SpongeBob is a fictional character.
There seems to be little continuity between the episodes, as the characters often meet a horrible fate, only for everything to be returned to normal in the next episode. Numerous examples are as follows:
- In numerous episodes, the Krusty Krab and sometimes the entirety of Bikini Bottom itself is completely destroyed seemingly beyond repair, usually due to a mishap caused by SpongeBob.
- In "Clams," Mr. Krabs is eaten (save for his head and left arm) by a giant clam.
- In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost," SpongeBob traps Squidward in a giant bubble and sends him to the surface, where he is swarmed by seagulls.
- In "Wishing You Well," Mr. Krabs, in an attempt to prove to SpongeBob that magic doesn't exist, wishes that he was steamed and served with melted butter, which comes true seconds later.
- In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV," SpongeBob uses the gadgets in Mermaid Man's utility belt to shrink Bikini Bottom and its inhabitants down to microscopic size, much smaller than even Plankton.
- In "SquidBob TentaclePants," in a frantic attempt to physically combine himself with SpongeBob again in order to re-create the ultimate show business spectacle, Squidward meddles with Sandy's "Molecular-Separator Ray" in such a way that the resulting disaster leaves Squidward, Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob, Patrick, Plankton, Larry the Lobster, Sandy, Pearl, and Mrs. Puff eternally fused together into one giant life form.
- In "Stanley S. SquarePants," Squidward and Sandy move and do not return in the episode.
- In "Hocus Pocus," SpongeBob turns Patrick into a jar of mayonnaise.
- In "Shell Shocked," Gary's shell breaks and he uses Mr. Krabs' head as a shell.
- In "Face Freeze!", SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs developed "Frozen Faces" at the end of the episode.
- In "Hooky," Patrick is caught and is returned as a can of tuna.
Other continuity errors include paradoxes, such as someone saying that someone doesn't exist, but that person does exist later, or the looks and personality of one person changes and other errors.
- In "Enemy In-Law," Mr. Krabs claims that the Krabby Patty formula has been passed down his family, yet in "Friend or Foe," it is shown that Mr. Krabs and Plankton invented the formula together purely by accident.
- At the end of "Roller Cowards," SpongeBob and Patrick bought their backbone. SpongeBob and Patrick have no backbones, being invertebrates.
- SpongeBob is interchangeably shown both with and without a skeleton.
- In many episodes, the character Old Man Jenkins appears with many different personalities and histories.
- In many episodes, Bikini Bottom is interchangeably portrayed as a big city ("Pizza Delivery," "Pre-Hibernation Week," "Patty Hype") and a small town ("WhoBob WhatPants?").
- When Patrick thought he was ugly in "Something Smells," he said: "What is my sister going to think? Oh, wait, I don't have a sister..." and in "Rule of Dumb," Patrick is the only child of Herb and Margie Star. However, the episode "Big Sister Sam" is named after and revolves around Patrick's sister Sam.
However, there does seem to be some continuity shown in some instances. Examples are:
- Robot Krabs exploding in the end of "Imitation Krabs" but reappearing in "New Leaf."
- The seven "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" episodes.
- In "Driven to Tears," Patrick references "Have You Seen This Snail?" by saying to SpongeBob, "Don't forget to feed Gary. Because sometimes you forget to feed him".
- In "Whelk Attack," SpongeBob says: "I've had the Suds", referring to "Suds."
- In "Summer Job," with the way Krabs talks, it seems that a relation between him and Mrs. Puff in "Krusty Love" has broken up.
- In "Driven to Tears," Patrick didn't get arrested for crimes he committed and later got arrested for them in "Good Ol' Whatshisname."
- Plankton could have been in jail long enough to forget the formula in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- In "The Wreck of the Mauna Loa," Mr. Krabs says that he's checked "every dumpster" in search of the Mauna Loa, but in "Shell Shocked," SpongeBob finds Mr. Krabs in a dumpster, supposedly looking for the Mauna Loa.
Although bubbles are often seen throughout an episode, occurrences such as tears, flooding a building, inhabitants drinking liquids from glasses, bathtubs filled with what seems to be water, all fracture the underwater setting.
SpongeBob SquarePants is the only cartoon to consistently make the Top 10 list in the Nielsen ratings, and is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not previously garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats. When SpongeBob aired in 1999, it gained a significant number of viewers in the ratings, eventually becoming more popular than Rugrats had ever been. SpongeBob follows other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers, including: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now! and The Angry Beavers. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: Invader Zim, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Fairly OddParents won a similar fan base when they aired in 2000, and the latter is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity, while the former was cancelled, despite gaining a cult following. The show debuted in 1998, and during that time, Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon were still the biggest crazes. SpongeBob did not gain its popularity until around 1999, and it has remained popular since then, despite a five-month hiatus from April to October in that year. It has extremely high ratings on tv.com scoring an average of 9.0. SpongeBob SquarePants ranked 15 in IGN's Top 100 Best Animated Series, just five spots behind the top 10 list, but was able to place in the top 20. [2].
Broad appeal
SpongeBob is one in a long line of cartoons that is designed to appeal to adults as well as children. This has a lot to do with the absurd way underwater life and situations are represented, and with the situations, references, and words used, which younger viewers might not understand. Certain innuendos also are intended to go over younger viewers' heads. For example, SpongeBob tries to show his grandma that he is a mature adult by wearing sideburns and a derby, and listening to "free form jazz." In another example, when Squidward tricks SpongeBob and Patrick into thinking he is a ghost, a coral reef sculpted like Toulouse-Lautrec's can-can girls stands in the background (leading to a pun by Squidward). These are jokes most children would not understand. Numerous marine biology in-jokes are woven into the show. There are also often complex ironic scenarios that need close attention.
While many newer cartoons revolve around pre-adolescents with strange lives and feature many pop-culture references (e.g. The Fairly OddParents), SpongeBob chooses to go for a formula that was used in highly successful older Nick cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life, with non-human young adults in crazy, unrealistic situations, using minimal pop culture references.
Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick Star, both of whom are adults but display an innocence typical of human children. However, the characters are not immune from more adult avocations, including rock musicianship in a stadium performance, reminiscent of a hard rock concert, or Patrick turning to SpongeBob after they had nurtured a baby clam, holding his arms out saying "Let's have another."
Unlike most shows on the Nickelodeon network, SpongeBob features well-known independent musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Alternative rock bands, such as Wilco, the Shins, the Flaming Lips, and Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1996 song "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motörhead, and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and heavy metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of themselves playing live with the characters SpongeBob and Patrick. David Bowie was a special guest on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Atlantis SquarePantis," which aired on November 12, 2006.[2] The episode drew a total of 8.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the show's eight-year history.[2] A second SpongeBob SquarePants feature film, entitled The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 2, is currently in development and is expected to be released in theaters sometime in 2014, shortly after the 10th season debuts.[3] It is currently unknown whether or not it will be a sequel to the 2003 film.[2]
The TV movie Atlantis SquarePantis referenced numerous other movies or stories. David Bowie's character Lord Royal Highness (with his upper class accent) and the locals looked remarkably like the Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine - quite fitting for an underwater adventure. When the characters arrived at his habitat, he fell down as he proceeded down the red carpet (as Willy Wonka did in the "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" film), before leading them on a tour. A case can also be made for the yellow road used in the tour being a reference to The Wizard of Oz - along with the movie being a musical.
The show became so popular with teenagers and adults that the series was broadcast on MTV and featured on Spike TV. A quote by Patrick ("It's gonna rock!" from the episode Mid-Life Crustacean) has been used as a promotional tag-line for rock stations. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released on November 19, 2003, features a cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff, in a parody of his role from the Baywatch TV series.
A tenth season is due for roll-out in the same year and unlike the previous seasons, it will have 37 episodes instead of 26, bringing the episode count up to an impressive 241.
Merchandising and marketing
Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, flip-flops, pajamas, t-shirts, and slippers.
The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores in the United States as well as the Zellers, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores in Canada, and a limited selection of merchandise at Kmart and Target in Australia.
There have been kids meal tie-ins at Wendy's Restaurants for Party Pooper Pants Special in 2001 and at Burger King restaurants in 2000, 2002, and for the movie in 2003. In 2005, another kids meal tie-in for Burger King was introduced for the Dunces and Dragons special, and in 2006 for the Friend or Foe? special featuring containers for BK Chicken Fries designed to look like SpongeBob. In November 2003, another Burger King Kids Meal was released to tie-in with the new episode "Atlantis SquarePantis," and of March 2005 to April 2007 there are Kids Meals to tie-in with "Pest of the West".
A McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in has not been released in North America yet, but has already been released in Europe in the United Kingdom and Germany in early 2002 at about the same time a Catscratch Happy Meal was released in the United States and Canada. In 2011, Face Freeze!/Demolition Doofus/Extreme Spots/Squirrel Record. Toys of SpongeBob were released in America.
In Japan, they had a kids meal tie-in with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) which featured different toys based on the TV series.[4]
SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black and "Weird Al" Yankovic among other celebrities.
A tie-in beverage for the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2000 at 7-Eleven convenience stores has been created, a pineapple-flavored Slurpee, which was discontinued in 2004.
Events in the past with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme include an exhibit at Underwater Adventures Aquarium in the Mall of America called SeaCrits of Bikini Bottom during the summer of 2002. In October 2003, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT) featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the SpongeBob Movie paint schemes. There were contests tied in with the movie where fans could win SpongeBob-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands.
The motion simulator/interactive movie ride "Escape from Dino-Island 3D" at Six Flags Over Texas was turned into "SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D," with water squirts, real bubbles, and other sensory enhancements. The SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D ride opened at the Noah's Ark Dive-In Theater located at Noah's Ark Water park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in the summer of 2005. LEGO received license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, which are available in stores now. SpongeBob appeared at the Mall of America's then-new-at-the-time theme along with the rest of the Nicktoons in a Nickelodeon theme park re-branded from the Mall of America's Park at MOA (formerly Camp Snoopy) to Nickelodeon Universe in 2005 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The theme park features a SpongeBob-themed Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster, the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge, which replaces the Mystery Mine Ride and Olde Tyme Photo store on the eastern end of the theme park.
Other items featuring SpongeBob include special edition Monopoly, The Game of Life and Operation board games as well as a SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Ants in the Pants and Yahtzee. SEGA Corporation introduced a ticket redemption game based on the show that has become popular with most video arcades.[5]
The SpongeBob SquarePants market saturation has become something of a joke. In the comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon", Hawthorne the crab is showing off a small nuclear (Junior) reactor, and Herman the shark says: "Boy, that SpongeBob will endorse anything!"
When the complete first season of SpongeBob SquarePants was released in the United Kingdom, it included some heavy editing (though not to the cartoons themselves). The audio commentaries were cut out, and only two extras were left in, possibly to avoid a 12 rating. A similar approach was taken with the second season; it included no audio commentaries and only one extra, Around the World with SpongeBob SquarePants.
Currently, there is a promotion from Burger King that promotes the song Baby Got Back. It features the King and dancers dressed like SpongeBob and in some scenes, some parts of SpongeBob episodes. It promotes that if you get a kids meal and you get a SpongeBob toy with it.
Development (1992–1997)
SpongeBob's history can be traced back to 1992 when Rocko's Modern Life first aired. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. When Rocko's Modern Life was canceled in 1995, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although sketches trace back to 1986). He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as Doug, Action League Now!, and Hey Arnold!. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer-directors Sherm Cohen and Dan Povenmire, writer Tim Hill, voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence (A.K.A. "Mr. Lawrence"), actor-writer Martin Olson, and animation director Alan Smart. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former Angry Beavers story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to SpongeBob in July 1998.
During production of the show, Bobson provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. SpongeBob used to be named SpongeBoy,[6] and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of Flaming Carrot. Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob". The original name was once referenced in the episode Squeaky Boots with Mr. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought Ks were funnier and it would fit his Ukrainian heritage.
SpongeBob aired its first episode, "Help Wanted / Reef Blower /Tea at the Treedome," after the 1998 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. At this time, Rugrats was the most popular show on Nickelodeon and had already outlived dozens of other lower-budget cartoons. SpongeBob, with its generally lower-class animation and humor style more rooted in clever word-play and culture-references unlike the potty humor that made Rugrats so popular, was expected to be just another one of those shows. Following early struggles, its ratings soared, and a year after release, it surpassed Rugrats as Nickelodeon's highest rated show. SpongeBob's signature voice (provided by Tom Kenny) and humorous style were enjoyable to both younger and older audiences.
Peak years (1999–2002)
By 2000, the show had flourished into Nickelodeon's No. 2 children's program, after Rugrats. Nearly 40 percent of the show's audience of 2.2 million were aged 18 to 34 [144]. As a result, Nickelodeon expanded the show's exposure on television from Saturday morning to almost-prime time, broadcasting at 6 PM, Monday through Thursday [144]. In 2000, Nickelodeon took the "Saturday-morning ratings crown" for the fourth straight season, grabbing a 4.8 rating/21 share (1.9 million viewers) in kids 2-11, jumping 17% compared to the previous year [145]. During its third season, SpongeBob SquarePants passed Rugrats and earned the title of the highest-rated children's show on cable, with a 6.7 rating and 2.2 million kids 2 to 11 in the second quarter of 2001, up 22% over 2001 [144][146][147]. Forbes called the show "a $1 billion honeypot," and said that the show was "almost single-handedly responsible for making Viacom's Nickelodeon the most-watched cable channel during the day and the second most popular during prime time" [144]. It was also reported that, of the 50 million viewers who watch it every month, 20 million are adults.[148][149]
Unfortunately, things changed later in the year. Due to rumors of a movie, there was speculation that the show would be canceled and that 2001 would feature the last season of new episodes. Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler / Pranks a Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October 2003 after it was released on DVD in early 2003.
Hiatus and movie era (2002–2004)
In late 2001, Stephen Hillenburg and the show's staff members decided to stop making episodes and work on the 2003 film: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, after completing the production of the third season.[3] As a result, the show went into a "self-imposed" two-year Hiatus on television.[4] During the break, Nickelodeon expanded the programming for the third season to cover the delay. However, according to Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman, "there certainly was a delay and a built-up demand."[5] Nickelodeon announced nine "as-yet-unaired" episodes would be shown.[6] "The Sponge Who Could Fly" first aired during a two-hour "Sponge"-a-thon, while the other eight were broadcast subsequently.[6] The last 2 episode segments from Season 3 "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler" and "Pranks a Lot" were delayed for the longest amount of time. In October 2003, the last 2 episode segments were finally aired, just 1 month before the show's first film.
It was announced late in 2003 that SpongeBob would be continuing with a new season in 2004. Hillenburg, despite the rumors, did not actually leave the show, but resigned from his position as the show's executive producer (this job now belongs to Paul Tibbitt with Vincent Waller taking over Drymon's job as creative director).
The movie finally released in November 2003. In late 2003.Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke and the rest of the crew confirmed they have completed four new episodes for broadcast on Nickelodeon in early 2004,[15][16] The hiatus ended on May 6, 2004, when the 4th season officially premiered.
Comeback (2004–present)
Season 4
TV advertisements for the show's fourth season first aired publicly during the 2005 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. The new episodes began airing on May 6, 2004. The first new episodes of Season 4 were "Fear of a Krabby Patty" / "Shell of a Man." After airing six new episodes on Fridays from May 6 – May 20, Nickelodeon showed no new episodes until September 2004.
For the first time in the series' run, Nickelodeon began airing 11-minute segments of new episodes separately, spread over two weeks. This practice began with the airing of the episode "Selling Out" on September 23; its companion episode "Funny Pants" premiered the following week.
The Star Online eCentral reported in December 2004 that Nickelodeon had ordered 20 more episodes, bringing the show's total to 100.[7]
Nickelodeon aired the special "Have You Seen This Snail?" in November 2004. However, it was not until February 2005 that new episodes resumed, starting with "Dunces and Dragons" and continuing until June 2 2006. Further new episodes appeared during September 2005 ("New Leaf /Once Bitten"), October ("Wigstruck"), and November ("Best Day Ever") — drawing 6.7 million viewers — "Best Day Ever" was a 25-hour 100-episode SpongeBob TV event ending with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, although the Nickelodeon narrator made a goof about the marathon being 24 hours instead of the actual 25 hours. Fans voted for "Karate Island" as the most popular SpongeBob episode. The Best 10 Ever airs after "Best Day Ever."
Season 5
The new episodes in 2006 started airing on January 15, showing seven new episodes on February 19, 2006, officially beginning the airing of the fifth season which featured more potty humor than previously shown. 2006 also had two episodes on KCA, March 31, and a special on April 13, 2006. On July 23, 2006 Nickelodeon aired a special event, called the "SpongeBob New-New-New-New-New Week," in which from Monday to Friday, two new episodes of season five (except for "Squid Wood" from season four) would air. This continued until August 3, 2007.
On November 12, 2006, SpongeBob's first TV movie "Atlantis SquarePantis" premiered, after a SpongeBob marathon. A behind the scenes feature aired after the movie. Also on November 23, 2006, there was another SpongeBob marathon including a rerun of Atlantis SquarePantis and eight new episodes.
Season 6
SpongeBob SquarePants approved a sixth season, which consisted of twenty-six episodes. It started the sixth season on March 3, 2007, starting a week of new episodes, starting with "Krabby Road." On March 29, right after Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2008, Spongicus/Nautical Novice aired. Then, on April 11, "Pest of the West," a special, aired.[8] Then on June 2, 2008, SpongeBob Premiere Factor 5 aired episodes.
Nick aired 7 new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants on November 28, 2008 with the episodes "The Slumber Party /Grooming Gary," "Krusty Krushers / The Card," "Porous Pockets," and "Dear Vikings / Ditchin'" during SuperStuffed Nicktoons Weekend in November 2007.
Beginning on February 16, 2008, Nickelodeon aired a week of new episodes, beginning with Shuffleboarding and Cephalopod Lodge. This was the first premiere week not to have episodes on Friday.
Season 7
In the summer of July there was a 10th Anniversary Marathon that aired 12 new episodes (6 in Season 7) starting on July 17, 2008. The first episode from Season 7, "Tentacle-Vision" aired on July 19, 2008 in the morning. Then, another episode didn't air until October 24, 2008 with "The Curse of Bikini Bottom." Then a TV movie called "Truth or Square" aired in November 2008. This was done to celebrate the 10th anniversary.
In a special, Super Stuffed Nicksgiving Weekend formerly, Super Stuffed Nicktoons Weekend 2 new episodes aired on November 27, 2008.
In 2009, the first two episodes aired on January 2. On September 11, 2009 a special called Nick Saturdays started with "Yours, Mine and Mine" and" Kracked Krabs." Nick Saturdays aired new episodes of Nicktoons on Saturdays. On September 26, 2009, it was announced that when Season 8 was believed to have already started, that Season 7 was going to have 26 episodes instead of 20, so Season 8 wasn't premiered yet. This was confusing to many SpongeBob fans.
Season 8
In December 2007, Nickelodeon ordered enough episodes to bring the series up to 178 episodes. Season 8 first aired on March 26, 2010 with the episodes "Oral Report" and "A Friendly Game." Another episode called "Sentimental Sponge" aired on April 2, 2010. After this, there was a new episode every Saturday in June, which was similar to the "New Episodes Every Friday in March" event in 2001. 4 new episodes aired on November 25, 2010 as part of Super Stuffed Nicktoons Weekend. There were no new episodes until March 31, 2012, which preceded a two-week premiere event from April 2 to April 13. It will consist of episodes 153-178. On April 11, 2011, with the airing of "Squiditis" (173a), it surpassed Rugrats (which had 172 episodes) Nickelodeon's longest-running cartoon. The ending of Season 7 and all of Season 8 brought SpongeBob back to his glory he had achieved back in 2001. Season 8 saw the old humor and some of the more mature scenes brought back. SpongeBob had reached his highest peak so far. Many adult fans had come back and started to comment good things about SpongeBob. At the rate that Season 8 is going at, Season 9 will bring even better episodes, there may even be a Season 10 in the upcoming future. A second Christmas special called "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" premiered on December 6, 2011.
Season 9
On January 3, 2010, Nickelodeon ordered 27 episodes for a ninth season, which began airing in 2011. It will bring the number of episodes up to 205, making SpongeBob SquarePants the first Nicktoon to pass the 200-episode milestone. Season 9 consists of episodes 179-205. It premiered on July 21, 2011, with the premiere of "Extreme Spots" and "Squirrel Record." This season notes transition on 1080i HD (widescreen 16:9).
On September 21, 2013, Vincent Waller tweeted that production of Season 9 was haulted half way through to concentrate further on "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water." He states that Season 9 is now in production again.
On December 10, 2013, Paul Tibbitt tweeted that Stephen Hillenburg was to return as Executive Producer in January 2015.
Criticism of decline in quality
The more recent episodes have widely been criticized for not living up to the standards of the older ones. Many critics believe the decline in quality began after the release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, with the beginning of the fourth season. Some fans say the episode "Good Neighbors" was when the series started to decline in quality. also began to turn away from the series, and some online fan sites became deserted. In 2011, it was reported that the series' ratings were declining [225][226]. The average number of viewers aged 2 to 11 watching SpongeBob at any given time dropped 29% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Nielsen [218].
A huge change was the resignation of series creator Stephen Hillenburg from being the position of showrunner, serving instead as executive producer and leaving his former position to writer Paul Tibbitt from seasons four to nine. With this change brought many new writers, replacing many of the show's veterans (Kaz, Sam Henderson, C.H. Greenblatt, among others) as they moved on to different projects. The only original writers with the show today are animation director Tom Yasumi, writer Doug Lawrence, and writer Paul Tibbitt. One critic said:
"I've been a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants for a long time, and consider it to be one of the best cartoons in the past ten years. But I also have to confess that the cheerful sponge and I parted company some time ago. I'm not sure I can peg the exact moment I stopped paying close attention to the hit series. I think it occurred sometime around the special episode "Dunces and Dragons," though I also remember feeling doubts about where things were headed while watching "SpongeBob B.C." I really couldn't put my finger on what bothered me about those specials... but there was definitely something off-putting about them, and not long afterward I stopped seeking out new episodes. ...it's a disappointment to watch as the show becomes something it once wasn't: Just another kid-pandering attention-waster."[citation needed]
Another major criticism of the show was its apparent Flanderization of its characters (that is, an extreme emphasis on a single character trait, to the point where it makes a character's personality seem like a caricature of its original self). SpongeBob's childlike behavior & naïvety, Patrick's low intelligence & negative behavior, and Mr. Krabs's greed are among many traits accused of being Flanderized, with critics taking harsh words to the characters seeing an apparent decrease in intelligence and an increase in mean-spiritedness. This seemed to be most prominent in episodes such as "One Coarse Meal", "A Pal for Gary", and "Stuck in the Wringer", which are currently some of the show's most infamous stories.
Although the show is still criticized today, some SpongeBob fans believe it could be making a comeback. The television movie "Truth or Square" gained a some positive feedback from fans, in contrast to other post-movie episodes, and many episodes from Seasons 8 & 9 are also gaining mostly high ratings and positive reviews, with particular prominence from being among numerous other negatively-received episodes. While it is common for a show to decline over time, it is quite rare for a show at this point to redeem itself, with shows such as The Simpsons and Doctor Who being among some of the only other TV programs to redeem themselves after a perceived seasonal rot.
- Tom Kenny: SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, French Narrator, Patchy the Pirate, Mr. SquarePants, miscellaneous characters
- Bill Fagerbakke: Patrick Star
- Rodger Bumpass: Squidward Tentacles, Dr. Gill Gilliam
- Carolyn Lawrence: Sandy Cheeks
- Clancy Brown: Eugene H. Krabs
- Dee Bradley Baker: Squilliam Fancyson, miscellaneous characters
- Mr. Lawrence: Sheldon J. Plankton, Larry the Lobster, miscellaneous characters
- Lori Alan: Pearl Krabs
- Mary Jo Catlett: Mrs. Poppy Puff
- Scarlett Johansson: Princess Mindy
- Sirena Irwin: miscellaneous characters
- Lauren Tom: miscellaneous characters
- Stephen Hillenburg: Potty the Parrot
- Brian Doyle-Murray: Flying Dutchman
- Jill Talley: Karen (Plankton's computer wife)
- Paul Tibbitt: Mrs. Krabs
- Thomas F. Wilson: miscellaneous characters
- Carlos Alazraqui: miscellaneous characters
- Clea Lewis: miscellaneous characters
- Sara Paxton: miscellaneous characters
- Ollie Young: miscellaneous characters
Guest appearances
- Johnny Depp: Jack Kahuna Laguna
- Ernest Borgnine: Mermaid Man (1998- 2011)
- Tim Conway: Barnacle Boy.
- Charles Nelson Reilly: Dirty Bubble. ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II")
- John Rhys-Davies: Man Ray.
- Jim Jarmusch: self. ("Hooky")
- John Lurie: self. ("Hooky")
- John O'Hurley: King Neptune. ("Neptune's Spatula")
- Kevin Michael Richardson: King Neptune. (voice in "Party Pooper Pants")
- Amy Poehler: Grandma.
- Pat Morita: Master Udon. ("Karate Island")
- Martin Olson: live-action sequence as Chief of the Superheroes. ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V")
- Junior Brown: Sandy Cheeks ("Texas"; sang the last line: "I want to go home.") NOTE: Brown also sang the entire "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song" over the closing credits; however, because Nickelodeon usually runs advertising or promotional spot announcements during the closing credit sequences, the soundtrack is obliterated on both Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon 2 telecasts of this episode. Junior Brown's vocals may, however, be heard in their entirety on broadcasts of "Texas" that are telecast on the Nicktoons network, which runs the credits without the promotional vocals that it adds on its two flagship stations.
- David Glen Eisley: SpongeBob SquarePants when he was singing Sweet Victory. ("Band Geeks")
- Pantera: "Pre-Hibernation" plays in "Pre-Hibernation Week."
- Ween: "Loop de Loop" is on a record Gary the Snail plays for SpongeBob to teach him how to tie his shoes in "Your Shoe's Untied."
- Patton Oswalt: Jim the Original Frycook in "The Original Fry Cook."
- Marion Ross: Grandma in "Grandma's Kisses."
- Gene Shalit: Food Critic Gene Scallop in "The Krusty Sponge."
- Mark Hamill: The Moth in "Night Light."
- Nigel Planer and Rik Mayall, UK comic actors (best known for anarchic 1980s sitcom The Young Ones) guest-starred as "Dr. Marmalade" and "Lord Reginald" in the episode "Chimps Ahoy."
- David Bowie: Lord Royal Highness (L.R.H.) in the "Atlantis SquarePantis" episode.
- Christopher Guest: Guest-starred as SpongeBob's klutzy cousin, Stanley SquarePants in the episode "Stanley S. SquarePants.
- Johnny Knoxville: Guest-starred as Johnny Krill, the leader of the Drasticals in the Episode "Extreme Spots."
- Micheal McKean: Guest-starred as Captain Frostymug the captain of the Milkshake Academy in the episode "License to Milkshake."
|Steven Banks
|Head Writer
|2005 – present
|Steven Belfer
|Miachel Bell
|Writer / Storyboard Director
|2005 – present
|Peter Burns
|1999 – present
|Nicholas Carr
|Bradley Carow
|Sherm Cohen
|Storyboard Supervisor / Artist, Writer, Director
|Sean Dempsey
|Animation Director
|Derek Drymon
|Writer / Storyboard Artist/Creative Director, Story Editor/Executive Producer
|1999–2004, 2005–present
|Steven Fonti
|Writer / Storyboard Director
|C.H. Greenblatt
|Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
|Sage Guyton
|Sam Henderson
|Writer, Storyboard Director
|Tim Hill
|Stephen Hillenburg
|Creator/Executive Producer
|Since 1999, 1999-2004; 2015–Present
|Paul Tibbitt
|Executive Producer
|Derek Drymon
|Storyboard Director
|Writer, Storyboard Artist
|Chuck Klein
|Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
|Doug Lawrence (a.k.a. "Mr. Lawrence")
|Writer, Story Editor
|Jay Lender
|Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
|John Magness
|Storyboard Artist
|Mark "Thurop" Van Orman
|Storyboard Artist
|Chris Mitchell
|Writer, Storyboard Artist
|Caleb Muerer
|Storyboard Artist
|Mark O'Hare
|Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
|Andrew Overtoom
|Animation Director
|Andy Rheingold
|Executive in Charge of Production
|Ted Seko
|Storyboard Artist
|Alan Smart
|Animation Director
|1999 – present
|Aaron Springer
|Writer / Storyboard Artist, Director
|Jimmy Stone
|Animation Director
|Brad Vandergrift
|Storyboard Artist / Storyboard Director/Writer
|Jeremy Wakefield
|Vincent Waller
|Writer / Storyboard Artist, Director /Creative Director (2005–present)
|Frank Weiss
|Animation Director
|Erik Wiese
|Writer / Storyboard Artist
|David Wigforss
|Special Effects
|Merriwether Williams
|Story Editor / Writer
|Tom Yasumi
|Animation Director
|Oliver Truby
|Storyboard Supervisor
|Stephen Hillenburg
|Derek Iversen
|Lighting, writer
|Vanessa Coffey
|Executive In Charge Of Production
|Seamus Walsh
|Minor Director (1 Episode)
DVD/Blu-ray Releases
|Blu-ray Name
|Release dates
|Region 1
|Region 2
|Region 3
|The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
|March 29, 2011
|March 29, 2011
|March 29, 2011
|It's a SpongeBob Christmas!
|November 6, 2012 Canada
October 15, 2013 USA
|October 15, 2013
|The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
|June 2, 2015
|July 27, 2015
|July 1, 2015
The following list shows the awards the show has won:
- Annie Awards for Best Animated Television of 2004, 2010
Note: SpongeBob SquarePants won the Annie Award for Best Writing in an Animated Television Production in 2006 and Best Voice Acting in a Television Production in 2009.
- Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Cartoon Show of 2002-2006, 2008-2015
Note: SpongeBob SquarePants lost to Avatar: The Last Airbender in the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards, making it the show's first loss after a five-year consecutive winning streak.
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program of 2009
- The show had been nominated for an Emmy Award eight times from 2001-2008. It had also been nominated for an Annie Award eight times as well.
- In 1996, a clip was shown featuring a unique opening with the title card music of "Hall Monitor," this may have been to be the opening before the SpongeBob SquarePants opening theme was written.
See also
- List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters
- Timeline
- SpongeBob SquarePants in popular culture
- SpongeBob SquarePants internet phenomena
- List of notable fans of SpongeBob SquarePants
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/spongebob-squarepants/listings/
- ^ a b c BOWIE 'SPONGE' MAKES SPLASH. New York Post (November 15, 2004). Retrieved on 2004-12-07.
- ^ http://durancemagazine.org/2012/03/paramount-announces-that-a-second-spongebob-squarepants-movie-will-come-in-2014/
- ^ [1]
- ^ www.segaarcade.com/pr/SpongeBob.asp. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
- ^ "SpongeBob Exposed! The Insiders Guide to SpongeBob SquarePants" book
- ^ www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/27/tvnradio/12578379&sec=tvnradio. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
- ^ www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mightybamypoehlerSpongeBobsixthseason,0,6061089.story?coll=zap-news-headlines. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
|This page uses content from Wikipedia (original • authors). Both Encyclopedia SpongeBobia and Wikipedia are licensed under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tag Archives: Dr. David Berceli
Posted on September 13, 2013 by Serve The Warrior
My dog, a five-year-old runty black and white rescue pit bull, still has all the bursting exuberance of a puppy. Physically brave, I have seen her literally jump off cliffs, landing unscathed. On hikes, she tears off into the brush after birds or squirrels. When I lived in New York, she tried to take on the horses waiting at the curb for tourists to cart around Central Park. I mention all these details not only because I am one of those annoying people who likes to talk about their dog (I am), but also because it was not until I did some research on Continue reading →
Posted in The Flying Guinea Pig | Tagged alternative healing, blog, depression, Dr. David Berceli, emotions, guinea pig, healing, invisible wounds, Iraq, Julia Decker, Los Angeles, Mary Shriver, military, non profit, nontraditional healing, pit bull, post traumatic stress disorder, ptsd, sal Romeo, Sarah Eggers, Serve the Warrior, shake off Stress, Sidewalk Studio Theatre, STW, survivor guilt, TBI, Tension and trauma release, The flying guinea pig, trauma, Trauma Recovery Services, traumatic brain injury, TRE, Veteran, veterans, yoga | Leave a comment


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Heres some pics of the supply, and the failed caps-
With all due respect, since you seem to be somewhat lacking in knowledge on what a power output transistor looks like, then your chances of identifying the problem are pretty low. Without a circuit dagram, someone who really knows what they are looking for will have to dig deep into their knowledge of circuitry to identify where the faults lie. As previously stated, your best bet is to simply replace the damaged capacitors, switch ON and if it works, all well and good. If it doesn't work, and you really want to keep it, then pass it onto a colleague who has the skills to trouble shoot. Otherwise you could well be throwing good money after bad, with little chance of success.
Should have just spend a bit more on a mastech. Don't buy these knockoff pos's. Its like 50-75$ more for something quality and protected against stupid mistakes like reverse polarity connection of a fla.
true, true.The transistors tested ok, so i'm just waiting for the new caps to see if thats going to fix it. The cap's in question, i'e heard nothing good about, so quality issues definately could have been the cause of failure just going off that.
Or the caps could have been from that bad batch made with the stolen seret suace electrolyte formula from a few years back. Nothing is certain, other than the quality of this supply fits in line for what i paid for it. Lesson learned.
Those caps do not just blow up out of the blue. You connected your battery backwards, and that blew them. Get over it, it has nothing to do with "cheap" capacitors. Even Nippon Chemicon's or ELNA won't tolerate that kind of abuse!// Per.
Checked pos/neg out for a short, and sure enough it beeped at me.


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Earthing of installations and equipment is an issue that crosses the boundaries of the various disciplines involved in the construction and equipping of a modern commercial or industrial building. Construction engineers need to talk with instrumentation engineers and IT professionals need to discuss matters with electrical engineers and so on. Sometimes, however, these individual engineers do not speak the same technical language or are not even aware of the needs of each others installations. In this document an overall earthing approach is presented to serve as a basic guideline for earthing and interference suppression that can be used by multi-disciplinary teams.
In general any earthing system needs to satisfy three demands:
- Lightning and short circuit: the earthing system must protect the occupants, prevent direct damage such as fire, flashover or explosions due to a direct lightning strike and overheating due to a short-circuit current.
- Safety: the earthing system must conduct lightning and short-circuit currents without introducing intolerable step-voltage and touch-voltages.
- Equipment protection and functionality: the earthing system must protect electronics by providing a low impedance path to interconnect equipment. Proper cable routing, zoning and shielding are important aspects and serve the purpose of preventing sources of disturbance from interfering with the operation of electrical equipment.
Although requirements for these three aspects are often specified separately, the implementation of them requires an integrated systems approach.
A systems approach
The original purpose of the protective earth was to ensure the safety of people and property within the zone served by the earthing system. This requires a high current capacity path with relatively low impedance at the fundamental frequency so that voltages developed under high fault current conditions are not hazardous.
It is very easy to make a good low impedance connection to ground. All that is needed is a high conductivity, corrosion resistant conductor (copper is a good choice) buried in the earth at such a depth that it will neither freeze nor dry out, large enough to contact a suitably large volume of earth, covering a sufficiently large area and in such a position that it is not influenced by other earthing systems. A large volume of earth reduces the current density in the soil and therefore the resistance to earth. A large area connection allows shaping of the electric field to be accomplished, reducing touch and step voltages. This is a clean earth at least, as clean as it gets.
Problems arise as soon as equipment is connected to it. In practice, the cleanliness of the earth is affected by other, nearby, earthing systems and, usually more seriously, by the equipment of the installation itself.
The use of a combined protective earth and neutral (PEN) conductor, as used in a TN-C system, cannot be reconciled with the principles of good design outlined in this application note. In a TN-C system neutral currents – including third harmonics – and earth currents mix in neutral conductors, protective conductors and connected metalwork.
Installations should always be TN-S, even if they are derived from TN-C systems on the supply side of the point of common coupling (PCC). The presence of a single earth-neutral bond is very important.
Traditional installation practice focuses, correctly, on safety. Originally, it was thought sufficient to simply provide a low impedance path to earth. Modern practice requires shaping of the field in the ground to control the voltage gradients around the earth electrode.
The protective conductor must also provide a functional earth to the equipment operating on the system – that is, it has to provide a path for the leakage currents (at the fundamental frequency) and the high frequency noise currents arising from, for example, switched mode power supplies via radio frequency interference (RFI) filters as well as being a voltage reference for signal interfaces.
The magnitude of leakage currents varies around the installation. Since the earth leakage current originates mainly from single-phase equipment on each of the three phases, balanced components of the fundamental from each phase will tend to cancel, so that the current in the protective conductor may increase or decrease as circuits are combined along a distribution system. Often, it is worst at a (single phase) final circuit supplying IT equipment. Leakage currents are harmless while flowing to earth, but can easily reach lethal levels if the connection fails and therefore a high-integrity design is required. In essence this requires duplicate paths (each capable of carrying the full fault current) and robust and reliable connections for example, long-life, corrosion-resistant, copper conductors installed by electricians rather than steel cable trays installed by building workers. Where the armour of cables is used as one of the routes, special attention is required to ensure that reliable connections are achieved and maintained at glands.
High integrity design principles must extend throughout the system, including right up to the desktop, by fitting sufficient socket outlets for example, so that extension blocks, with their single, low integrity, protective conductor, are not required.
High frequency currents can be a bigger problem as far as functionality is concerned. Much of the equipment that produces noise on the earth is also sensitive to it but there is a difference; the equipment produces noise currents and it is sensitive to noise voltages. If the noise currents can be transported to earth without producing noise voltage drop, all will be well. This requires a connection to earth that has low impedance at all frequencies. To decrease radiated noise, the earth path for the noise current should run close to the supply conductors. It should be noted that in this context we are more concerned about the impedance of the connection to the earthing system, which represents the equipotential surface we colloquially call earth, rather than to the physical earth itself. This is different from the contexts of safety and lightning protection where the impedance to the earth itself is of critical importance.
When the amount of equipment installed was small it was common to run a separate large size earth lead straight back to the main earth terminal, or even to a separate earth rod (also bonded to the main earth terminal to comply with local regulations). This was usually satisfactory, partly because these systems and their peripherals were co-located in a geographically small area and so could be maintained at an equipotential (if there is such a thing), rather than at zero potential. The noise return path was also close to the supply conductors, reducing radiated noise. However, the long radial earth connections exhibit quarter-wave resonance1 effects that increase impedance at some frequencies, making this an unsuitable technique for modern widely distributed installations. Modern computer systems usually extend throughout several floors of a building. Maintaining an equipotential (at high frequency) between these scattered devices requires a better solution.
It is a fact that most distributed computer systems work. As microelectronic devices have developed and operating voltages have reduced, the energy required to switch logic states and the immunity to voltage noise have generally decreased making them more sensitive to noise. The effect of this trend has been offset by improvements in system design to improve noise immunity. These measures include the use of differential interfaces and better software design, such as the use of error detecting and correcting protocols on networks. These techniques are very effective, but reduce network throughput by sending redundant (error control) data and requiring re-transmission of failed data packets. As the electrical noise increases, the error rate increases, and throughput decreases until useful communication ceases completely. To the user it appears as if the system has suddenly failed, whereas in fact it has merely degraded so far that the recovery mechanisms provided can no longer cope. If the electrical noise can be reduced to a low enough level, the error rate will reduce also and data transmission will again be possible. High noise levels reduce throughput by requiring repeat transmission and reduce efficiency. Clearly, network efficiency is related to data processing efficiency, which is related to business efficiency. As with many things, efficiency is worst when the need is greatest when the network is busy. Reducing the level of electrical noise in the data processing environment is crucial to increasing efficiency. It is unfortunate that, in speculative developments, the most popular data cable for networks is unshielded twisted pair. For IT-intensive buildings and for 100 Mb/s data rates, the use of shielded twisted pair cable (STP) should be preferred.
The best way to reduce noise to a minimum is to use a copper grid ground plane. This technique was often used for computer rooms when data processing was centralised and is still frequently the only viable solution. It works because there is an infinite number of paths through the grid with different apparent electrical lengths while some of these paths may be multiples of a quarter wavelength, there will undoubtedly be many other parallel paths which are not. The result is a low impedance connection over a wide frequency range. Such a grid should cover the whole of the area of the installed equipment these days usually the whole building and it should not be forgotten that this applies to the vertical direction as well as the horizontal. There is little point in having horizontal meshes on every floor connected to a single vertical downlead. Grids are normally constructed using flat strip to keep skin effect to a minimum. Where structural elements are used as a grid, such as the supports for a raised floor that have been selected for their mechanical rather than electrical properties, it is important to ensure that the elements are electrically bonded together using short copper braids at each intersection.
It may be thought that a complete copper grid installation is rather expensive for ordinary commercial buildings particularly in the case of speculative buildings. However, the cost is not great and it is obvious that the lowest overall cost is achieved by incorporating grids at the design stage, and that the most expensive route is to retrofit grids after occupation. An effective earthing system ensures that the building is suitable for a wider range of uses and is thus more marketable. The building can attract a higher rent, justified by the reduction in the frequency (and cost) of problems to tenants and the consequent operating costs.
Electromagnetic compatibility
Every piece of electrical and electronic equipment produces some electromagnetic radiation. Similarly, every piece of equipment is also sensitive, to a greater or lesser extent, to electromagnetic radiation. If everything is going to work, the cumulative level of radiation in an environment must be rather less than the level that will disrupt the operation of the equipment working in that environment. To achieve this goal, equipment is designed, built and tested to standards to reduce the amount of radiation that is emitted and increase the amount that can be tolerated.
EMC is defined in the IEC 61000 series as:
The ability of an equipment or system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable electromagnetic disturbances to anything in that environment.
Maintaining this compatibility in practice requires great care in the design and implementation of the installation and the earthing system. Only a general overview only is presented in this document.
In traditional electrical engineering separate earthing systems were used, for example, signal earth, computer earth, power earth, lightning earth etc. In todays electrical engineering new insights have been gained on the aspect of earthing and grounding and its relation to instrument protection. The concept of separate earthing systems has been abandoned and the international standards now prescribe one overall earthing system.
There is no such thing as clean and dirty earth.
This single earthing concept means in practice that protective earth (PE) conductors, parallel earthing conductors, cabinets and the shields and screens of data or power cables are all interconnected. Also steel construction parts and water and gas pipes are part of this system. Ideally all cables entering a zone must enter at one point at which all screens and other earth conductors are connected.
To reduce interference on equipment the earthing loops between cable-screens and other earthing structures must be kept small. Bonding cables against metal structures makes these structures act as parallel earthing conductors (PEC). Parallel earthing structures are used both for data and power cables.
Examples are, in ascending order of effectiveness: earthing wires, cable ladders, flat metal surfaces, cable trays or ultimately metal pipes. The PEC reduces the impedance of the loop formed by the cable and the earthing network. The earthing resistance to mother earth is mostly not important for the protection of equipment. A very effective form of a PEC is a densely woven or completely closed cable screen with a large metal cross-section, connected all around at both ends of the cable.
To keep the impedance of bonding connections in the earthing network small for high frequencies, litz wire (stranded, individually insulated) or metal strips with a length to width ratio smaller than 5 must be used.
For frequencies higher than 10 MHz round wires should not be used.
A raised floor can serve as a good equipotential plane. The copper grid underneath it must have a maximum spacing of 1.2 metres and be connected to the common bonding network via many equipotential bonding conductors. The grid should be connected to a 50 mm sq copper ring placed around the raised floor area, within the boundaries of the floor, at 6 metre intervals. Power and signal cables should be at least 2oomm apart and where they cross, they should do so at right angles.
The earthing system of a building or site is a critical part of the electrical infrastructure and can determine the future viability of businesses operating in it. It is required to deal with short duration fault currents of several hundred Amperes, standing currents of a few Amperes and high frequency noise currents returning them to source or ground with close to zero voltage drop for noise currents and with no risk of damage for fault currents. At the same time, it must protect the equipment and personnel housed in the building during lightning strikes (fast transients in the kiloampere region) in the interconnected earthing system.
The design of the earthing system of a building, including the lightning protection system, requires great care if all the objectives are to be met. It is, as usual, best and cheapest if it is designed correctly from the start, considering the lifetime of the building and, as far as possible, the potential usage during that lifetime.
Re-engineering after the building has been occupied is always an expensive exercise.


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I'm working through Daniel Batson's latest book, What's Wrong with Morality?
Batson distinguishes between four different types of motives for seemingly moral behavior, each with a different type of ultimate goal. Batson's taxonomy is helpful -- but I want to push back against distinguishing as finely as he does among people's motives for doing good.
Suppose I offer a visiting speaker a ride to the airport. That seems like a nice thing to do. According to Batson, I might have one (or more) of the following types of motivation:
(1.) I might be egoistically motivated -- acting in my own perceived self-interest. Maybe the speaker is the editor of a prestigious journal and I think I'll have a better shot publishing and advancing my career if the speaker thinks well of me.
(2.) I might be altruistically motivated -- aiming primarily to benefit the speaker herself. I just want her to have a good visit, a good experience at UC Riverside, and giving her a ride is a way of advancing that goal I have.
(3.) I might be collectivistically motivated -- aiming primarily to benefit a group. I want UC Riverside's Philosophy Department to flourish, and giving the speaker a ride is a way of advancing that thing I care about.
(4.) I might be motivated by principle -- acting according to a moral standard, principle, or ideal. Maybe I think driving the speaker to the airport will maximize global utility, or that it is ethically required given my social role and past promises.
Batson characterizes his view of motivation as "Galilean" -- focused on the underlying forces that drive behavior (p. 25-26). The idea seems to be that when I make that offer to the visiting speaker, that action must have been induced by some particular motivational force inside me that is egoistic, altruistic, collectivist, or principled, or some specific combination of those. On this view, we don't understand why I am offering the ride until we know which of these interior forces is the one that caused me to offer the ride. Principled morality is rare, Batson argues, because it requires being caused to act by the fourth type of motivation, and people are more normally driven by the first three.
I'm nervous about appeals to internal causes of this sort. My best guess is that these sorts of simple, familiar folk (or quasi-folk) categories don't map neatly onto the real causal processes generating our behavior, which are likely to be much more complicated, and also misaligned with categories that come naturally to us. (Compare connectionist structures and deep learning.)
Rather than try to articulate an alternative positive account, which would be too much to add to this post, let me just suggest the following. It's plausible that our motivations are often a tangled mess, and when they are a tangled mess, attempting to distinguish finely among them is usually a mistake.
For example, there are probably hypothetical conditions under which I would decline to drive the speaker because it conflicted with my self-interest, and there are probably other hypothetical conditions under which I would set aside my self-interest and choose to drive the speaker anyway. I doubt these hypothetical conditions line up neatly, so that I decline to drive the speaker if and only if it would require sacrificing X amount or more of self-interest. Some situations might just channel me into driving her, even at substantial personal cost, while others might more easily invite the temptation to wiggle out.
The same is likely true for the other motivations. Hypothetically, if the situation were different so that it was less in the collective interest of the department, or less in the speaker's interest, or less compelled by my favorite moral principles, I might drive or not drive the speaker depending partly on each of these but also partly on other factors of situation and internal psychology, habits, scripts, potential embarrassment -- probably in no tidy pattern.
Furthermore, egoistic, altruistic, collectivist, and principled aims come in many varieties, difficult to disentangle. I might be egoistically invested in the collective flourishing of the department as a way of enhancing my own stature in the profession. I might be drawn to different, conflicting moral principles. I might altruistically desire both that the speaker get to her flight on time and that she enjoy the company of the cleverest conversationalist in the department (me!). I might enjoy showing off the sights of the L.A. basin through the windows of my car, with a feeling of civic pride. Etc.
Among all of these possible motivations -- indefinitely many possible motivations, perhaps, if we decide to slice finely among them -- does it make sense to try to determine which one or few are the real motivations that are genuinely causally responsible for my choosing to drive the speaker?
Now if my actual and hypothetical choices were all neatly aligned with my perceived self-interest, then of course self-interest would be my real motive. Similarly, if my pattern of actual and hypothetical choices were all neatly aligned with one particular moral principle, then we could say I was mainly moved by that principle. But if my patterns of choice are not so neatly explained, if my choices arise from a tangle of factors far more complex than Batson's four, then each of Batson's factors is only a simplified label for a pattern that I don't very closely match, rather than a deep Galilean cause of my choice.
The four factors might, then, not compete with each other as starkly as Batson seems to suppose. Each of them might, to a first approximation, capture my motivation reasonably well, in those fortunate cases where self-interest, other-interest, collective interest, and moral principle all tend to align. I have lots of reasons for driving the speaker! This might be so even if, in hypothetical cases, I diverge from the predicted patterns, probably in different and complex ways. My motivations might be described, with approximately equal accuracy, as egoistic, altruistic, collectivist, and principled, when these four factors tend to align across the relevant range of situations -- not because each type of motivation contributes equal causal juice to my behavior but rather because each attribution captures well enough the pattern of choices I would make in the types of cases we care about.


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Halsey, Skrillex, Incubus, More Announced For ACLU Benefit Concert
EDM superstar Zedd has had a benefit concert in the works for a bit now, and the artist recently confirmed who will attend the show. It seems to be quite the eclectic lineup! Halsey, Skrillex, and Incubus are just a few of the artists that will perform the the "Welcome!" concert. All benefits from ticket sales will benefit The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Check out all of the details in a tweet from Zedd after the jump! You can purchase a concert ticket here! Please follow and like us:Read More


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"A Feeling of Yearning, a Flower Full of Hope" (切ない想い 願いを込めた一輪, Setsunai Omoi Negai o Kometa Ichirin) is episode 55 of the original Naruto anime.
A Feeling of Yearning, a Flower Full of Hope (切ない想い 願いを込めた一輪, Setsunai Omoi Negai o Kometa Ichirin) is episode 55 of the original Naruto anime.
Jiraiya was seen peeking at the girls taking a bath on the waterfall. Naruto was practising the Summoning Technique, with Naruto still can't summon a frog. Sakura was sitting in her bedroom, still worried about Sasuke. The Third Hokage had a meeting with the jōnin regarding Hayate Gekkō's body found near Kikyō Castle. They seemed to talk about Orochimaru, and the Third Hokage concluded that they don't still have any information regarding to the latter, he also express his trust to the ninja if they invade Konoha, they will assemble and fight. Sakura then goes to Yamanaka's Flower Shop to buy flowers for Sasuke. Ino is the in-charge of the shop. She said that she will accompany her in visiting Sasuke. Ino picks rose and Sakura picks daffodil. Sakura said she will pick two; the other one for Rock Lee. On their way, they heard Chōji eating in a barbecue restaurant. Inside, Asuma Sarutobi and Shikamaru was also eating with Chōji, too. Treating him in exchange, training with Shikamaru. Neji was shown training with Tenten. During his training, Neji fell down, having used too much chakra. Team Kurenai was training too, for Shino's match. The Three Sand Siblings and Baki were talking about their invasion plans. Naruto was still training in his Summoning Technique, and Jiraiya was still peeking. The nurse permitted them five minutes because of Sasuke's condition, but Sasuke was gone. Kakashi was making his rock climbing practice and activates his First gate, at the top of the rock, was Sasuke. Lee was not also in his bed. Sakura saw that Lee was outside, making push-ups, so they ran to Lee. Ino and Sakura, pities Lee, despite his condition, train. On his 200th push up, he fell down. Shikamaru was then training with Chōji. Sakura just left the daffodil on Lee's room. Jiraiya stops peeking once the he realises the girls under the waterfall are not coming back, so he tells Naruto to call it a day, with Naruto insisting that he can still train. So he uses his Sexy Technique to still train him. On his last attempt, he can't still summon a frog.


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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Even after the Los Angeles Lakers blew a 16-point lead in the second half, Kobe Bryant had two chances in the final seconds to erase the Dallas Mavericks' big comeback with yet another game-winning shot.
Bryant and Pau Gasol fumbled away the Lakers' first opportunity before Bryant just plain missed his last shot, allowing Dirk Nowitzki and his tenacious Mavs to take an early second-round series lead.
Nowitzki scored 28 points and hit two go-ahead free throws with 19.5 seconds left before Gasol and Bryant made a crucial turnover, and the Mavericks rallied for a 96-94 victory in Game 1 on Monday night.
``You've got to make plays, and you've got to dodge some bullets,' Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. ``We did both.'
Nowitzki had 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who steadily erased a huge third-quarter deficit before the dramatic finish to the perennial playoff teams' first postseason meeting in 23 years.
The Lakers are ``highly concerned,' said Bryant, who scored 21 of his 36 points in the second half. ``This team can beat us, it's clear.'
After Nowitzki's free throws gave Dallas its first lead of the second half, Bryant fell down under defensive pressure from Jason Kidd while trying to get the ball from Gasol with 5 seconds to play. After one free throw by Kidd, Bryant missed a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer off the back rim just before the buzzer.
``It's definitely a great win for us, but if you look at their last series, they lost Game 1 and came right back and won the next two and had the series back in control,' Nowitzki said. ``We'd love to go for it in Game 2.'
Game 2 is Wednesday night at Staples Center.
Gasol had 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the second-seeded Lakers, who lost their second straight Game 1 after winning six straight openers over the previous two seasons. Their loss to New Orleans two weeks ago was much more surprising than this loss to the playoff-tested Mavs, but the Lakers' lack of poise down the stretch should be scary to anybody anticipating a threepeat.
``We felt like we gave the game away,' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. ``I'm not so sure Dallas didn't outplay us, but the players felt like we gave it away. ... The game was won in the third quarter when we got the lead and stopped playing defense and stopped playing offense. It took a lot of energy out of us and gave a lot of energy to them.'
The Mavericks trailed 92-87 with 3:32 to play, but finished on a 9-2 run - showing all the late-game tenacity that's expected of Bryant and the two-time defending champions.
``We did well, but I think we can do better,' said Shawn Marion, who scored 10 points for Dallas. ``Is there anybody that knows we play good D?'
Lamar Odom scored 15 points for Los Angeles, which nursed a small lead throughout the second half into the final minute. Nowitzki scored in the lane with 40 seconds left to trim the deficit to 94-93, and after Jason Terry swiped the ball from Bryant, Gasol inexplicably fouled Nowitzki on the Mavericks' inbounds play, setting in motion the final events.
Terry scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half to lead the Mavs' reserves, who outscored Los Angeles' bench 40-25.
The Lakers took a 53-44 halftime lead with a 14-2 run that included four points in the final 0.7 seconds.
Terry got too close to Odom's last-ditch heave from halfcourt right before the buzzer, and Odom made three free throws. Nowitzki then got a technical foul for throwing an aggressive elbow under the hoop while scrapping with Ron Artest, and Bryant hit a final free throw.
Dallas made a 20-6 run shortly after falling behind 60-44 to open the third quarter. Bryant singlehandedly kept the Lakers ahead with 12 consecutive points, but Jackson blamed the defeat on that stretch of awful basketball after taking a commanding lead.
``I know we got that crazy last minute there, but we've got to come out in the second half and play better,' said Andrew Bynum, who managed eight points and five rebounds for Los Angeles. ``We didn't lose it at the end. We lost it in the third quarter.'
Both teams put aside the ugliness of their ejection-filled meeting on March 31 while preparing for the franchises' first postseason meeting since the 1988 Western Conference finals.
Jackson and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban declined to rekindle their history of mutual sniping in the media, instead praising each other in recent days. Jackson even said Cuban would be an excellent prospective owner for the troubled Los Angeles Dodgers, although Cuban declined to comment on the much-rumored prospect before Game 1.
Both clubs finished off their first-round series in six games after splitting the first four. The Lakers took control against the Hornets after the opening stunner, while the Mavericks bounced back admirably after blowing a 23-point lead in a Game 4 loss to Portland.
NOTES: Bryant had the 81st 30-point game of his playoff career, trailing only Michael Jordan (109) in NBA history. Bryant has scored in double figures in 156 straight postseason games. ... Fans near courtside included Eddie Murphy, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham (on his 36th birthday), Jack Nicholson, Gordon Ramsay, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter, singer Seal, Mekhi Phifer, Anthony Kiedis, New York Jets TE Dustin Keller and Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis.
(IL) If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services are available by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537).
(CO) Gambling problem? Call 1-800-522-4700.
(IA) If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-BETS-OFF.
(IN) If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9-WITH-IT.Indiana Self-Restriction Program
(NJ) Bet with your head, not over it! Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
(NV) If your gambling is no longer fun, don't wait for the problem to get worse. Contactthe Nevada Council on Problem Gambling or call 1-800-522-4700.
(PA) If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available, call 1-800-Gambler.
(WV) If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.


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NOTICE: Many events listed here have been canceled or postponed due to the Covid-19 emergency. It is best to call ahead or check with organizer's websites to verify the status of any local event.
Big Time Rush is the latest and hottest incarnation of US boy bands thrilling the youth of the world. While N'Sync was a male group that was formed with an influence by Disney (Justin Timberlake and J.C. Chasez were members of the Mickey Mouse Club), Big Time Rush is the brainchild of Nickelodeon. With their hit, self-titled TV show promoting their music -- or visa versa -- Big Time Rush has filled a gap in pop music while also creating a classic blending of television and music. While Big Time Rush might've had the backing of Nickelodeon parent company Viacom at their start, these four boys are making a name for themselves through television ratings, record sales, and huge international concert dates. Big Time Rush's 2012 tour takes them from the East to the West and everywhere in-between.
The popular boy band began with a casting call for a television show, asking for actors that could also perform vocally. The final roster came to Kendall Schmidt (the leader), James Maslow (the heartthrob), Carlos Pena Jr. (the funny/tough guy), and Logan Henderson (the brains). After the series was officially picked up, it was then announced that the four stars of the show would form a singing group to release music and perform concert dates outside of the show. While filming of the series began in August of 2009, the name of the group wasn't chosen until right before filming began. As the four characters on the show are hockey players from Minnesota, the real-life quartet came up with the hockey phrase "big time rush" as their official moniker.
The self-titled theme song of the television program became the band's first single, which debuted with a strong presence on iTunes. With popularity from the TV show building, Big Time Rush's second single, "Halfway There," peaked at #93 on Billboard's Hot 100, making it their first mainstream success. Big Time Rush had the luxury of testing the album's singles on their television show, and then commercially releasing of the songs. At this point, Big Time Rush hadn't engaged in any concert dates, as execs were waiting for their popularity to build. With the successful television show and singles backing them, Big Time Rush released their debut album B.T.R. in October 2010. The album featured all four hit singles, as well as some new ones: The track "Boyfriend", which was co-written and produced by Snoop Dogg, soon became a popular single. The success of the album finally prompted Big Time Rush to begin performing tour dates, with the group performing countless concert dates in 2010; so much so, that their tour dates for 2011 have been limited.
With a hit television show and rumors of a second album, Big Time Rush still finds time to perform in support of some big acts, such as Selena Gomez. Big Time Rush kicks off a huge list of tour dates from Coast to Coast, North to South. Make sure to keep track of where the BTR boys are headed and stay updated on new tour dates.
All video content is provided by Youtube, and any questions, comments, or concerns regarding such content should be directed to Youtube


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It's customary in Croatia to vaccinate newborns against TB. So, my little 3 day old daughter received her shot in the left arm. I was told that a small blister will form at the injection site within about a month's time. That stupid blister arrived a few weeks ago. Now you might be thinking it some cute tiny...nothing. Well, it's not nothing. It's an angry, disgusting, pus-filled monster - a monster that broke two nights ago and sent my ordinarily docile 8 week old into full-on hysteria.
If that's not bad enough - as is the case with TB vaccination - she'll be left with a scar on her shoulder that looks like I took a car cigarette lighter to it.
TB shot, I hate your guts.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuberculosis Shot, I Hate You
Posted by An American in Croatia at 7:23 AM 0 comments
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But the very foundation upon which ACOs are built could be shaky, making software tools only so effective. Let me explain.
Consider the Medicare-based Shared Savings Program ACO. It's a group of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers that has agreed to work together to deliver high-quality care to at least 5,000 Medicare beneficiaries for at least three years. To obtain government financial rewards, the ACO has to report on 33 quality standards and show improvement in 32 of them within those three years. In a nutshell, if the ACO can prove that the cost of caring for these ACO patients is less than what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would anticipate under the standard fee-for-services model, the ACO providers get to share in some of the savings.
CMS breaks the quality measures into four categories: patient and caregiver experience; care coordination and patient safety; preventive health; and caring for at-risk populations.
[ Looking for a PACS platform to replace an outdated system? See 9 Must-See Picture Archiving/Communication Systems. ]
In the care coordination and patient safety category, ACOs must report readmission rates for all conditions during the first and second years of the program, and in year three they must show evidence that they've lowered that rate. In the preventive health category, in year one of the program they must report the number of flu and pneumonia vaccinations they've administered; the number of depression, colorectal cancer, and mammography screenings they've done; and the number of patients who use tobacco--and then show that they've improved those numbers in years two and three.
Some ACO quality data is easy to collect. Consider the performance standard for measuring tobacco use. Most EHRs already track that, and the data can be easily gathered using tools such as Microsoft Excel and SAP Crystal Reports.
The standards on hospital readmissions, on the other hand, pose a bigger challenge. In addition to the overall hospital readmission rates, ACOs face specific requirements for ambulatory-sensitive conditions such as congestive heart failure. They must report the admission rate in the first year for those conditions, and in years two and three meet a specific benchmark.
Some healthcare providers have turned to vendors such as Curaspan Health Group to track admission and readmission stats. Curaspan uses what it refers to as a "patient transition network" that monitors exchanges between hospitals and post-acute-care providers using its proprietary DischargeCentral software. The software generates reports that tell hospitals which post-acute-care facilities and clinicians aren't responding to requests for them to see referred patients or are responding too slowly. Once a hospital knows which clinicians or facilities are dragging their feet, it can take action to correct the problem, reducing the risk of their patients needlessly being readmitted.
These are just two example of IT's ability to meet ACO standards. But if genuine accountability is your goal, technology gets you only halfway there. Providers need a proven structural model to make an ACO cost effective, and at least one prominent thought leader questions whether the current approach will do the trick.
In a recent Journal of the American Medical Association editorial, Donald M. Berwick, MD, the former administrator of CMS and one of its ACO architects, says: "The accountable care organization is a guess." Put another way, the government is guessing that this model will in fact lower costs while improving patient care.
Part of the problem is the shaky research foundation upon which the model was based. It's based in part on the Physician Group Practice Demonstration (PGPD), a series of experiments spearheaded by CMS. During that five-year project, CMS rewarded medical groups for improving clinical outcomes by concentrating on better care coordination and transitioning of care from facility to facility for patients with chronic diseases.
Recent analyses of PGPD have been disappointing. Berwick points out in the JAMA editorial that the medical practices were able to demonstrate "widespread gains in healthcare quality ... but only inconsistent and generally small effects on cost."
Equally disturbing: A more recent analysis suggests that PGPD practices may have been gaming the system by "overcoding." When compared to a control group of practices, the PGPD docs were more likely to submit codes that indicated their patients' illnesses were more serious, which in turn would make it easier to claim clinical improvements and savings when they were treated.
Berwick offers a stinging reaction to this finding: "Neither patients nor the nation are well served when administrative manipulations masquerade as changes in care. What is needed is better care, not better coding." Amen to that!


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"Hi Marlene,
I made this delicious roast recipe this past Shabbat…. my family loved it!! I wanted to share it with you. ENJOY!!"
Beatrice Ashkenazi
Thank you Beatrice Ashkenazi for your easy secret family favorite holiday and Shabbat brick roast recipe!
- One 3 pound brick roast
- soy sauce (you can use Passover soy sauce)
- lemon juice
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- vidalia onions
- garlic
- Slice two vidalia onions and layer them on top and bottom of the roast.
- Crush garlic over the roast.
- Add half a cup of soy sauce, quarter of a cup of lemon juice garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.
- Place the roaster in the oven at 350 degrees and roast about two hours.
- Wait for it to cool then slice.
Related articles
- Brick Roast with Red Wine and Red Onion Garnish (thejewishhostess.com)


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Seven by Marcel Pequel
Album Description
I don't have any conecption while making my music. I just simply make the music that I enjoy, and that wasn't made by anybody else before. In my tracks I can't see any images, but only I can feel some kind of emotions, for example nostalgy, sadness, fear, hope etc. Because of reasons above I didn't named my tracks, but just numbered them, so every listener of my music can make his own opinion about every single track (not suppose to feel something because of some title of track). The order of tracks is important, and it seems to me it should be heard in order from 1 to 9. I numbered the tracks after I made them. While making music I didn't use any paper . I'm making my music on electronic instruments, connected with computers, and by computer software I'm storing all I've made, and then I'm making sometimes some corrections.
music: Marcel Pequel
cover-artwork: Marian Reinig
Track Info
Seven by Marcel Pequel is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.


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|6 mm
|32 mm
|Display Type:
|Stainless Steel
|Strap Type:
|Stainless Steel
|Strap Width:
|18 mm
|Maximum Band Size:
|198 mm
|Minimum Band Size:
|142 mm
|Clasp Type:
|Water Resistancy:
|Official Braun Presentation Presentation box
|2 Year Manufacturer
The Braun BN0211BKMHL Mesh Black Ladies Watch comes with a black stainless steel mesh strap with a black stainless steel case and black dial. This watch comes with a 2 Year Manufactures Warranty. Please note this watch has a slight mark on the watch case back hence the 60% off the RRP price.
Braun is a recognised worldwide design and manufacturing brand. You are likely to have seen Braun grooming products, household appliances and now Braun Watches are being added to the Braun collection.
Braun Watches are designed to provide you with a quality and minimalist solution for all your needs. Simplicity and functionality are fundamental to the Braun philosophy and this is no different with the Braun Watches. Braun Watches are simple, modern and have a slight retro feel which is making them a must have with all those watch lovers.
Some Braun Watches were designed way back in 1970's by Dieter Rams and Dietrich Lubs. This new collection of Braun Watches includes many of these original models which have been slightly updated to be in keeping with modern timepieces but still maintaining that retro feel. All Braun Watches are designed and built to the highest quality so you can expect nothing but the best from your Braun Watch.
Tic Watches are official UK stockist's of Braun Watches so all our Braun Watches come complete with the necessary Braun Watch packaging and 2 year's manufacturer's warranty from Braun. So if you are looking for a Braun Watch look no further than Tic Watches.
Being 'Authorised Retailers' means we Tic Watches purchase the watches direct from the brand or the official distributors. This means all our watches are 100% authentic and come with their official paperwork, packaging and manufacturer's warranty. For peace of mind make sure you buy your watches from Tic Watches.
Here at Tic Watches we offer all the necessary Card Payments, Paypal, Amazon Pay and we now offer 2 more new Payment Options. Details below:
Option 1 - Buy Now and Pay in 30 days
Try before you buy and get up to 30 days to pay for your order. Make sure you're totally happy with your items before ever making a payment. No interest and no fees. This option will ONLY show at checkout for customers who have been approved!
Option 2 - Pay in 3 Instalments
Pay in 3 equal, interest-free payments, free of charge. Payments are automatically charged every 30 days. Perfect for spreading the cost over time without the hassle or the cost. Please note the minimum basket value must be £35 or greater and the maximum basket size is less than £1200.
Please note these options will ONLY show at checkout if they are applicable to your order. If they do not appear I am afraid they do not apply to your order.
All orders placed Monday – Friday before 2pm will be processed and dispatched the same working day. We use both DPD and Royal Mail for the UK deliveries dependent on your location. We offer FREE UK delivery, Next Day delivery and Saturday Guaranteed delivery, which are all available at checkout.
- 2-4 Working Days: Free of charge
- Next Day (UK Mainland Only): £5.00
- Saturday Guaranteed (UK Mainland Only): £8.00
All couriers we use will try to deliver to the relevant address. Failing this, they will try one neighbour and leave a card through your door stating what neighbour accepted your parcel. More delivery Information >
Delivery with the EU
Shipping within the EU is £10.00. All watches will be shipped within 24 hours of the order been placed but can take up to 3 - 7 working days to arrive depending on your country and local customs.
All European orders are dispatched via DHL Express or DPD service dependent on your location. Please note even though 90% of deliveries take 3 - 7 working days delivery, sometimes it may take longer depending on customs so please note it may take slightly longer for delivery (up to 20 working days).
Delivery outside the EU (including USA, Canada & Australia)
Shipping outside the EU is £10.00. All watches will be shipped within 24 hours of the order been placed but can take approximately up to 3 – 7 working days to arrive depending on your country and your local customs. We use DHL Express for our International orders. Items sent by this service are insured and require a signature on delivery. Please note even though 90% of deliveries take 73 - 7 working days delivery, sometimes it may take longer depending on customs so please note it may take slightly longer for delivery (up to 25 working days). More International Delivery Information >
For information about our returns procedure please visits our returns page. More information here >


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Every Monday, from 05/26/2014 to 12/30/2019, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The Landing is for teenagers (13 - 18) who are struggling to live their lives in a healthy and God-honoring way. Whatever their life story, The Landing is a safe, healing place where teenagers can live a freer, healthier, and more God-centered life.
Held in Gateway's Life Center Wing | Please use Entrance 5
6:15 - Light Meal (Cost: $5)
7pm - Praise & Worship
7:30pm - Teaching or Testimony
8pm - Small Groups